Chapter 25Though Axel tried to hide the physical and emotional pain the work cost him, he grunted with the effort of heaving another block into place. Ironic a year of labour put him in the greatest shape of his life. Equally unexpected, he lost all hope when deported to the harshest concentration camp governed by the Coalition, but preferred this to the monotony of two years in prison, broken up by Daymer’s intermittent visits. Least he suffered no more of those, though he could only guess at Daymer’s reasons for wanting to keep him alive. Should he be grateful she appeared to prefer a lifetime of toil over torture as punishment? Perhaps, but he didn’t know what the future held.
He almost pitied her, the woman hankering after capturing him for a long time, his freedom a personal embarras
